The present invention relates to floor cleaning devices, and more particularly to devices for cleaning hard floor surfaces such as concrete, wood, and polyvinylchloride (PVC).
Although various types of floor cleaning devices are known and used, they are not entirely satisfactory for a variety of reasons. Hand-operated devices such as brooms and mops, although being generally effective and inexpensive to provide, are labor intensive and thus expensive to use. Also in the prior art are electrically powered cleaning machines that have motor-driven brush disks. These machines exhibit one or more of the following disadvantages:
1. They lack versatility, being made for concrete and marble-like surfaces they cannot be used on vinyl coverings; also they are made for specific operations such as sweeping or washing, requiring separate passes to be made with different devices; further, they are unable to remove water and require intervening manual mopping operations between washing and polishing; moreover, they require a source of electrical power, being subject to the dangers of electrical shock particularly during washing operations; PA1 2. They are ineffective in reaching under low cabinet overhangs; PA1 3. They are difficult to maneuver; and PA1 4. They are excessively complex and consequently unreliable and expensive to provide. PA1 (a) providing a wheeled chassis having a carpet belt movable in a closed path that extends within a tank, and an elevator mechanism for selectively locating the path in contact with the floor surface and raised from the floor surface; PA1 (b) feeding a cleaning liquid into the tank; PA1 (c) raising the path from the floor surface; PA1 (d) rolling the chassis to a desired location and orientation on the floor surface; PA1 (e) lowering the path into contact with the floor surface; PA1 (f) advancing the chassis while simultaneously sliding the carpet belt along the floor surface and advancing the carpet belt in the closed path; PA1 (g) progressively rinsing the carpet belt with the cleaning liquid; and PA1 (h) progressively squeezing liquid from the carpet belt.
Thus there is a need for a floor cleaning device that is effective on a variety of surfaces including concrete, that is easy to maneuver, that can reach under low obstacles, that can remove water, that can provide multiple functions such as sweeping and washing in a single pass, and that is reliable and inexpensive to provide.